Gail Burt of Metropolis Comics in Downey, California chimed in to offer Fred Swayne of Infinity Entertainment (see 'Fred Swayne of Infinity Entertainment on Yu-Gi-Oh Again') some advice on making money on the Yu-Gi-Oh craze:

 

In response to Fred Swayne:

 

Fred, we were allocated, too, on Yu-Gi-Oh!: Metal Raiders.  But guess what?  I just tell the kids we're out right now, let them go buy it at Target or Toys R Us or wherever Upper Deck saw fit to send it.  In a week or two, all will be gone, and I'll put out what I did get for $8 bucks a pack.  I'll sell it.  So will you.  The thing is, we all have to be careful about being purists -- I'm not saying we should be greedy opportunists, but we have to be pragmatic and do what we can do with what we're given.  Look, I don't like marking the stuff up to 2 or 3x normal retail either, it makes me feel like a total shit-heel, pardon the language.  But I made the mistake of resisting the urge for a long time with Pokemon, and it cost me.

 

You have to have sales in your business, that's your whole lifeblood.  If Upper Deck is creating a 'situation' for us by failing to supply us fairly, let that be Upper Deck's problem.  The kids who come to my store looking for Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokemon before them, are willing to get their parents to drive miles and miles looking for the stuff.  And once they get into that store miles away from me, they spend $8 or $10 bucks a pack for the cards -- so why would you want them to do that?  Give them what they want.  Sell them the cards for that price and at least save them the drive.  When the mass chains get a big shipment, like they did this week, pull the stuff off your rack and don't sell ANY.  Wait for the chains to run out -- you'll know when it happens, because suddenly you'll spend the whole day answering the phones and saying, 'Yes, we have it.'  Then put it out there and get your money back.  Start it at $4 bucks if you feel better about that, and as it gets harder and harder to get, find out what you would have to spend to get it if you didn't have any, and mark it according to that.  It sucks, but listen carefully:  it will all be over soon -- just like Pokemon is over.  As soon as Pokemon was easier to get, I dropped my prices, not just to regular retail but below it -- to $2.99 per pack.  I'll do the same with Yu-Gi-Oh.  But whatever you do -- do what you can with Yu-Gi-Oh now, because it isn't going to last.

 

We don't create these situations, we just have to live through them.  If the manufacturer would foster their product properly, we might still be talking Yu-Gi-Oh five years from now, the way we do about Magic.  But I seriously and sincerely doubt that will happen.  Sigh.  All I want is another Magic -- a game with legs that is steady and reliable month after month, year after year.  I would rather have a Magic, which I can sell a case or a little more than a month of than a Yu-Gi-Oh, which I could sell by the truckload today, but will probably not be able to give away about a year from now (just like Pokemon).